New LGD (PyrxAnatolian)

[organictoon]

Howdy everyone!!

I have a LGD Puppy that is a little over 3 months old and I am totally losing my mind (including my wife) any help is GREATLY appreciated:

1. So far we have been socializing her with the chickens/guinea fowl supervised daily and she hangs out in the coop with them with us for about 20-30 minutes and does not even mess with them at all she literally just walks around with them and respects her boundaries with them.

2. Besides that we are completely torn with how to manage the puppy when it comes to "home". We have been letting her sleep on the back porch at night due to her size and hating the kennel in the barn and barking all night and leading her out under a shaded area with water during the day.

Problem A: Should we not let her sleep on the porch if she is always trying to get to it during the day when off the lead?

Problem B: We have cattle stock panels, although sturdily reinforced, it has large enough openings to where she can still
fit through them (barely now) but we don't want her to constantly do that as we want her to respect the fencing.



Any suggestions as to what we should do here? I am pretty stressed out about this and unsure if it was a great idea just to buy her if she is just gonna wanna sit on my back porch all day. But my theory was that she will mature and at some point kick in her guardian instincts (came from a working mother and dad on site,Verified at the site) and she just will hang out on the porch until she believes the chicken's need guarding? I have seen other folks that have had great success even letting there LGD's inside the house regularly, it just may not be a good idea for "this" dog?

(COOP IS DOWN THERE ON THE RIGHT AND PORCH IS DIRECTLY TO MY LEFT) 3.86 ACRES

 

[Cherib603]

Other than hanging out with you in the coop, what are you doing to help her learn she has a job?
Do you have one person kinda shake up the birds and then run with her toward the sound, making it seem exciting, and then reward her once she gets there? Did the owners of her parents give you training tips?

 

[centrarchid]

Howdy everyone!! I have a LGD Puppy that is a little over 3 months old and I am totally losing my mind (including my wife) any help is GREATLY appreciated: 1. So far we have been socializing her with the chickens/guinea fowl supervised daily and she hangs out in the coop with them with us for about 20-30 minutes and does not even mess with them at all she literally just walks around with them and respects her boundaries with them. 2. Besides that we are completely torn with how to manage the puppy when it comes to "home". We have been letting her sleep on the back porch at night due to her size and hating the kennel in the barn and barking all night and leading her out under a shaded area with water during the day. Problem A: Should we not let her sleep on the porch if she is always trying to get to it during the day when off the lead? Problem B: We have cattle stock panels, although sturdily reinforced, it has large enough openings to where she can still fit through them (barely now) but we don't want her to constantly do that as we want her to respect the fencing. Any suggestions as to what we should do here? I am pretty stressed out about this and unsure if it was a great idea just to buy her if she is just gonna wanna sit on my back porch all day. But my theory was that she will mature and at some point kick in her guardian instincts (came from a working mother and dad on site,Verified at the site) and she just will hang out on the porch until she believes the chicken's need guarding? I have seen other folks that have had great success even letting there LGD's inside the house regularly, it just may not be a good idea for "this" dog? (COOP IS DOWN THERE ON THE RIGHT AND PORCH IS DIRECTLY TO MY LEFT) 3.86 ACRES

Problem A: Should we not let her sleep on the porch if she is always trying to get to it during the day when off the lead? Distance from porch to perimeter she is to defend is important. Based on what I have seen dog needs to be based within 100 yards of poultry yard. If porch within that radius then all should be good assuming upon maturity she patrols poultry yard perriodically around the clock and responds to alarm calls produced by chickens. My two current dogs based on porch / front yard which also provides best observation of entire poultry yard. I also have a small number of birds with free-range area anchored to house / dogs core area. Problem B: We have cattle stock panels, although sturdily reinforced, it has large enough openings to where she can still fit through them (barely now) but we don't want her to constantly do that as we want her to respect the fencing. Cattle panels will only provide short-term containment. At some point dog will jump or climb over them. While small that should not be a major problem. Consider making so you can extend the panels upwards. You need to relax, dog will not settle into role until pushing 2 years of age. You have not even reached the stage where chickens are likely to be killed by your own dog. When comes to have the dog spending time in the house, that is in part enabled by having chickens close to house where dog can hear and sometimes smell what is going on outside. That approach does not work under conditions most LGD;s are used for, namely guarding sheep / goat flocks that are well away from home and often mobile.

 

[organictoon]

Cherib: That is a great idea as far as the training goes, the breeder literally just let them loose on his property and kept repeating keep them with the stock, bond to stock, stock bond.... you get the picture? So I am very new to this and hard to understand the balance for the dog. She knows her name and stays and comes and sits very well. It is just that she wants to stay on the porch ALL the time and sleeps. She has been getting great about leaving the porch when we do to go walk the property lines and check on poultry.

Centra: Is there a moment where she will naturally just go do patrols when she has not hit the 1-2 year mark? Meaning if those instincts aren't suppose to kick in for guarding for quite some time, how can I expect her to just leave the comfy porch and check things out?

 

[Tumbling K]

Cherib: That is a great idea as far as the training goes, the breeder literally just let them loose on his property and kept repeating keep them with the stock, bond to stock, stock bond.... you get the picture? So I am very new to this and hard to understand the balance for the dog. She knows her name and stays and comes and sits very well. It is just that she wants to stay on the porch ALL the time and sleeps. She has been getting great about leaving the porch when we do to go walk the property lines and check on poultry.

Centra: Is there a moment where she will naturally just go do patrols when she has not hit the 1-2 year mark? Meaning if those instincts aren't suppose to kick in for guarding for quite some time, how can I expect her to just leave the comfy porch and check things out?

take this for what it is worth, but this has been MY experience with our LGD. Pyr/Ant mix.

we have goats and chickens and rabbits.

our LGD, 5 years old, sleeps most of the day away, under our front porch. Porch is located approx. 40 yards from chickens and rabbits.

goats have a pasture, and a shed, they come to at night/ heat of the day shed is approx 60 yards from porch

if he hears anything not natural, he's johnny on the spot, alerting. day or night.

he makes one, maybe two trips around the perimeter during daylight hours. I have no idea how many trips he makes at night, but have heard him bark from just about every corner of our property, on different occasions at night. I leave very early in the mornings for work, and have seen him laying or sitting, near the chicken yard, near the goat barn, and in the middle of our driveway, with no apparent reason. all are withing fairly close proximity to each other. I have on very few occasions heard an urgent bark from him. neither time was I able to determine what alerted him, but after a thorough check of all animals, and their sleeping quarters, I couldn't find anything amiss, so assumed he scared whatever it was off, with his bark.
training tips, I can't offer any, as we picked up this LGD already trained and 4 years old. He was already with chickens and goats.

I think the drive to protect is strong in them, and your main focus is to monitor, and teach them while they are young, to not play with the livestock.

 

[Cherib603]

I'd also make learning fun. "Play" Evil-nasty-thingy-wants-to-eat-our-chickens games. When you're near the pen and a bird or squirrel or anything is within 50 yards of it, maybe point and yell "get it" and act like it's a huge threat, then when she chases it away, make a big happy deal out of it and give a treat or a belly rub.
She'll catch on quick what makes you happy.

 

[centrarchid]

Cherib: That is a great idea as far as the training goes, the breeder literally just let them loose on his property and kept repeating keep them with the stock, bond to stock, stock bond.... you get the picture? So I am very new to this and hard to understand the balance for the dog. She knows her name and stays and comes and sits very well. It is just that she wants to stay on the porch ALL the time and sleeps. She has been getting great about leaving the porch when we do to go walk the property lines and check on poultry. 

Centra: Is there a moment where she will naturally just go do patrols when she has not hit the 1-2 year mark? Meaning if those instincts aren't suppose to kick in for guarding for quite some time, how can I expect her to just leave the comfy porch and check things out? 

She will start having the instincts to patrol when only about 6 months but will not be consistent at dealing with even small predators like a opossum or raccoon until 1 year old. Most dogs are hardwired to explore, especially those that are of the working and hunting types. She will need to get the excitement of chasing something still young otherwise you run the risk of having a dead head that just lays about. At some point I would want dog to see distressed chickens making alarm calls and dog needs to get excited by it.

 

[BBQChicken]

Best advice I can give you is to go to
Backyardherds.com and read through the LGD forum. There are a lot of great resources for you.

I have 2 toli/pyr crosses, and they are amazing! This dog is unlike any breed you have ever owned. Good luck!